Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and other CareGroup Inc. affiliates have agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit against the hospital chain alleging that workers were not paid for working through lunch breaks or beyond their scheduled shifts. The $8.5 million settlement, if given court approval, will cover as many as 9,000 current and former employees. The settlement includes payment to cover back wages for workers who claimed they were not paid overtime for working beyond their shift, or who worked through their lunch without pay.

  June 9, 2010 Beth Israel Settles Overtime Lawsuit

June 9, 2010 Boston hospital group settles overtime lawsuit

June 9, 2010 Overtime lawsuit costs Beth Israel Deaconess and parent CareGroup $8.5 million

June 9, 2010 Overtime lawsuit costs Beth Israel Deaconess and parent CareGroup $8.5 million

June 9, 2010 Mass. hospitals agree to settle overtime lawsuit

June 9, 2010 Boston hospital group settles overtime lawsuit

June 9, 2010 Beth Israel parent OKs payout

June 8, 2010 CareGroup: Up to $8.5 million in O.T. case

June 8, 2010 Beth Israel, CareGroup settle overtime lawsuit

Former Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center employee Richard P. Webb has been sentenced to 3 ½ years in prison after pleading guilty to stealing more than $1 million while an employed at the hospital's Ear, Nose and Throat Center.  According to federal officials, during the period between January 2006 and April 2009, Webb deposited checks made out to 170 Beth Israel Deaconess patients and vendors into his own bank account and stole medical equipment -- including hearing aids -- and returned the items for cash. Webb has also been ordered to pay more than $1 million in restitution for his crimes and faces up to three years probation following the completion of his sentence.

June 10, 2010: Embezzler gets 3 1/2 years in prison

US Attorney's Press Release

March 4, 2010: Ex-hospital worker guilty in $1m theft
Feb. 24, 2010: Ex-employee accused of $1m theft

Feb. 24, 2010: Ex-Beth Israel assistant to admit he stole $1M

  Feb. 23, 2010: Hospital Worker Admits Stealing $1M

Feb. 23, 2010: Beth Israel Employee Accused Of Stealing $1M 

Attorney Jay Fialkow, a BIDMC Trustee and former chair of planned giving for the hospital, is under regulatory investigation for charges related to his involvement in recruiting investors to an alleged $29 million Ponzi scheme. At least one donor to BIDMC was an alleged victim, raising potential conflict of interest and disclosure concerns. 1199SEIU has asked BIDMC trustees and directors to investigate these concerns and determine whether Fialkow should resign.

April 8, 2010 Union Questions Fialkow Disclosure

A practice assistant at the Ear, Nose and Throat Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center will plead guilty to charges of medical theft and embezzlement. Federal officials allege that during the period between January 2006 and April 2009, BIDMC employee Richard Webb deposited checks made out to 170 Beth Israel Deaconess patients and vendors into his own bank account and stole medical equipment -- including hearing aids -- and returned the items for cash.

A physicians' group at Beth Israel Deaconess filed a civil suit against Bank of America in May 2009 for allowing Webb to submit the checks for payment into his personal account. Click here to read the coverage in the Boston Globe.

If convicted, Webb would face up to 10 years in prison and over $2.1 million in fines.

March 4, 2010: Ex-hospital worker guilty in $1m theft
Feb. 24, 2010: Ex-employee accused of $1m theft

Feb. 24, 2010: Ex-Beth Israel assistant to admit he stole $1M

  Feb. 23, 2010: Hospital Worker Admits Stealing $1M

Feb. 23, 2010: Beth Israel Employee Accused Of Stealing $1M 

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center has contacted nearly 3,000 patients to notify them of a potential information breach after a laptop stolen from the University of California - San Francisco was recovered and it was discovered that it contained patient data placed there by a former BIDMC employee.

Were you notified? Share your story.

  Jan. 28, 2010: Laptop stolen from UCSF employee recovered

   Jan. 27, 2010: Stolen UCSF Laptop Contained Medical Data Of 4,400 Patients

   Jan. 27, 2010: Stolen UCSF Laptop Contained Confidential Info From 4400 Patients

Patients at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center score major wins as Eye on BI continues campaign for accountability.   
 
In 2009, Eye on BI achieved major accomplishments through our campaign to hold the administration of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center accountable for attempts to veer the hospital away from its core mission of serving the community, treating patients with compassion and providing caregivers with a work environment

Improved charity care language: BIDMC revised its charity care language to more accurately disclose charity care provided.

Dropped late night ER fees: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center's Physicians Group  stopped practice of charging late-night fees to emergency room patients after 1199SEIU launched a public awareness campaign.

Overseer Tied to Madoff Resigned: A member of BIDMC’s board of overseers resigned from the Board following concerns raised by 1199 SEIU about his ties to Bernard Madoff. Robert Jaffe has been charged with securities fraud and accused of earning as much as $150 million by steering investors toward Bernard Madoff.

Click here to read more about Eye On BI's accomplishments in 2009.

BIDMC Hospital Executives under the microscope after receiving large bonuses, hefty salaries and other major perks.

An investigative report by WCVB-TV Channel 5 reveals that several senior level executives at BIDMC were paid large bonuses, hefty salaries as well as stipends for cellular phones and parking in the same year that 70 BIDMC employees were laid off.

Nov. 25, 2009: Nonprofit Execs Pocket Large Salaries, Perks State Review Under Way

BIDMC is the only hospital in Boston and one of only 15 in the nation with readmission rate worse than the national rate for heart attack, pneumonia, heart failure.

High readmission rates have been cited as undermining quality of care and driving up costs. Recently released Medicare data reveals that patients treated at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) are readmitted more often than the national rate for all three common conditions measured by Medicare.

1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, the state’s largest union of healthcare workers, has launched a public awareness campaign asking BIDMC for a formal corrective action plan.

See our print ads in the:

Postcards and phone calls were sent out to workers at BIDMC after hospital administration asks for additional sacrifices during difficult economic time.

There couldn’t be a worse time to increase
healthcare costs for BI employees and their families.

For many employees at Beth Israel Deaconess, it’s a struggle to make ends meet this time of year. Now, hospital administration is hitting them with increased health insurance premiums of as much as 15% while asking them to accept decreases in coverage.

Last year, the administration cut their earned time off, retirement benefits and raises. They shouldn’t have to spend more for their own healthcare.

Click here to view PDF of postcard

Click here to hear the phone call sent out to workers at Beth Israel Deaconess

Following a compliance review recently conducted by the US Department of Justice that revealed several violations of Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards, the DOJ and BIDMC recently announced a settlement agreement to resolve BIDMC’s compliance issues. As the result of the agreement, BIDMC agreed to take action on several problem areas to bring its facilities up to ADA standards. Beth Israel also agreed to ensure that all new construction will be in compliance with federal law.

Link to the press release

Link to the full settlement

Additional coverage

Until recently, patients being treated by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center's physician group, Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians (HMFP), were charged extra fees, simply for going to the emergency room after 10PM.

In September, the healthcare workers of 1199SEIU launched a public awareness campaign to shed light on the practice -- and to ask BIDMC and HMFP to refund the money to patients -- including those who were charged at affiliates Nashoba Valley Medical Center, Milton Hospital, Saint Vincent Hospital and BID-Needham.

The next day, Milton Hospital announced that it had stopped charging patients the additional fee for being seen after 10PM and would refund anyone who had been charged the late-night fee. And then, Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians announced that it was dropping "late night" fees charged to ER patients at the five Massachusetts hospitals. read more